Government Expenditure

The government incurred Rs 31,68,648 crore as expenses up to January 2023, which was 75 per cent of of the corresponding revised estimate of 2022-23

The responsible revenue and expenditure projections are to be lauded, but efforts on trade and fiscal targets fall short

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has undertaken 21 trips abroad since 2019 and over Rs 22.76 crore was spent on these visits, the government said on Thursday. The President undertook eight trips abroad and an amount of over Rs 6.24 crore was spent on these trips since 2019, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha. The government incurred an amount of Rs 6,24,31,424 for President's visits, an amount of Rs 22,76,76,934 for prime minister's visits and an amount of Rs 20,87,01,475 for External Affairs Minister's visits since 2019, according to the minister. While the President undertook eight visits abroad, the PM undertook 21 trips since 2019. During this period, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar undertook 86 visits abroad. Since 2019, the prime minister has visited Japan thrice, and the US and the UAE twice. Among the president's visits, seven out of the eight trips were undertaken by Ram Nath Kovind, while current

Centre's expenditure on non-development categories like salaries, pensions payments has increased

Its importance is seen in its ability to hugely influence the nation's economy, as it reflects aggregate demand in addition to household consumption, business investment, and net exports

Its importance is seen in its ability to hugely influence the nation's economy, as it reflects aggregate demand in addition to household consumption, business investment, and net exports

Direct and indirect tax revenues may not be enough to offset food and fertiliser subsidies

Robust tax mop-up, savings through SNA dashboard bode well for balance sheet, say officials

Citing revival in contact-intensive services and a pick-up in government and private expenditure, rating agency Icra on Wednesday retained its previous growth forecast of 7.2 per cent for the current fiscal. Growth is expected to pick up to pre-Covid levels on the back of pent-up demand, even though on an annualised basis, the absolute numbers will be falling from Q1 (13.5 per cent) to a much lower level in Q2 and further down in the two remainder quarters due to the high base, the agency said. At 7.2 per cent, the number is marginally higher than most consensus forecast of 7 per cent and 10 bps lower than what S&P forecast earlier this week. The RBI is widely believed to again lower its growth forecast at its September 30 monetary policy review from the previous projection of 7.2 per cent. "We maintain our GDP forecast of 7.2 per cent for FY2023, aided by a revival in contact-intensive services owing to pent-up demand, and a back-ended pick-up in government and private capex. ...

In 2021, govt spent Rs 1,624.4 crore, or 77%, on undertrials alone

The previous five years saw the states' share, except for 2019-20, in between 34.5% and 37%, whereas the recommendation was to give them a 42% share

Among other things, making the direct tax regime less confusing and bringing in expenditure reform are crucial challenges for the central government

The FinMin's missive to various departments comes at a time when the Centre's fiscal balance for FY23 is under immense pressure

Revenue expenditure was Rs 23.68 trillion, or 74.7% of RE compared with 71.6%

FM Sitharaman is due to unveil the FY23 budget on Feb. 1 and officials said the thinking was that sharp cuts in government expenditure could hurt growth prospects

This was despite revenue expenditure accounting for 53.7 per cent of Budget Estimates, while capital expenditure was 45.7 per cent during the first seven months of the current financial year

Here are the best of BS Opinion pieces of the day

Is the post-Covid rise in govt expenditure sustainable?

The government needs Rs 49,805.25 for food storage schemes and warehousing

'I don't expect a huge uptick in inflation. I think it will remain within the 4 to 5 per cent band', said Somanathan